“And when a reactor this size goes bad,” AJ said, “it will kill everyone within a kilometer radius. Getting this thing safely to the Rift will not only benefit us financially, it could save hundreds of lives.”
“In other words,” Jake added, “if this reactor doesn’t make it to the Rift, then we don’t.” He paused and let his words settle in with the crew.
Jessie was the first to react as she put her earphones back on. “I’ll make sure we’re not followed. If I have to, I’ll broadcast so many acoustic shadows; they’ll never be able to sort them out.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Jake said. He then glanced at his first mate. “The bridge is yours.”
An hour later, Jake was bored, so he wondered back up to the bridge. Vee was on shift, and he saw her cocking her head to the side as she entered commands on her dashboard. They were supposed to be on autopilot, following a complicated zigzag pattern that Ash and his sister had programmed to help throw off any followers. As helmsman, Vee should have been sitting back, sipping coffee, and enjoying the downtime.
“You should take a break,” he said as he walked up and sat on the edge of the chart table in the middle of the bridge. “Your grandfather is downstairs telling Pre-Fall stories, like about when houses were made out of plants.”
“Trees,” she corrected him, eyes still glued to the console. “And he always has a story. I sometimes think that he had to be born before the Fall to have that many stories.”
“Well that would make him several hundred years old then, wouldn’t it?” he laughed. When she didn’t respond, he walked over to her console. “Is something wrong, Vee?”
“The autopilot’s doing extra work,” she mumbled, as much to herself as to him.
He leaned down close to her and whispered, “Are you worried it’s going to complain or start a mutiny?”
She looked at him with a glare. “I’m serious.” She pointed to a set of numbers on her dashboard, as though they would explain her concern. They didn’t.
“Look here,” she said. “The bow is trying to dive slightly. The ship is compensating by moving the battery sleds a bit more than they should be, just to compensate.”
“Is that using too much power, or something?”
“No, it’s trivial. However, it shouldn’t have to do that. The internal sensors monitor everything and everyone inside the ship, and the computer uses that data to keep the ship level at all times.”
“I know,” he said, wondering if she was explaining the process to him because she thought he was an idiot who didn’t understand basic buoyancy. “It’s like the way we humans balance on two feet. Thousands of small feedback loops that keep us standing without consciously knowing our brain is doing it.”
“Exactly. Only the ship’s brain thinks we are out of balance for some reason.”
“Send your readings to the table,” Raines said in his ear. Jake stood too quickly and almost bumped heads with the engineer.
AJ came up the stairs just then with a mug in her hand. “What’s up?”
Raines was already standing by the chart table as Jake and AJ joined him. A three-dimensional model of the Rogue Wave appeared above the table and a number of green circles and lines floated in and around it. One line flashed yellow every few seconds.
“What’s causing that?” AJ asked.
“Our balance is off,” Vee said as she joined them. “I was just telling the captain. There seems to be too much weight in the forward half of the ship.”
“Where?” AJ asked. Raines entered some commands on the table, and the image of the Wave split down the middle so that the inside floor plan was visible. A red dot appeared in the forward section of D-deck.
Raines raised his head and looked at Jake. “It seems we have a stowaway.”
AJ sat her coffee on the chart table and then calmly bent down and reached underneath. She came back up with a handgun. “Tell me exactly where he is.”
Raines zoomed in on the floor plan. “Based on the weight distribution, our visitor seems to be hiding just forward of the starboard battery sled.”
“Forward of the battery sled?” Jake asked. “If we had decided to dive, that sled would have crushed him.”
“That’s a stupid place to hide,” Vee said.
“Actually, that’s why it’s a perfect place to hide,” AJ said. “Those enforcers certainly didn’t find him in there.”
“So, how did a stowaway get aboard my ship?” Jake asked as he and AJ headed for the stairs.
She gestured for Ash to follow them, and then said, “Not easy, unless someone wasn’t minding the ship last night.”
“Hey, don’t blame me,” Ash said defiantly, but his red face told Jake that the navigator might have something to hide.
“I ought to send you in there without a gun to deal with this,” AJ said as she headed down the stairs, past the galley and mess hall and down to C-deck. When they reached the bottom, she added, “But instead, you’re going to wait here in case this person gets past us.”
“Gets past us?” Jake asked, suddenly wishing he were armed as well. Even though he had never actually fired a gun in his life, let alone held one in his hand, the intruder wouldn’t know that.
AJ unlocked the hatch under the stairwell that led to D-deck and climbed down the ladder, gun held out in front of her. She quickly scanned the small room and then moved silently toward the starboard side as Jake climbed down to join her. The midsection of the battery sled was visible though a small opening. He put his mouth close to the room’s intercom and keyed the bridge. “Pull the starboard sled back as far as you can, Vee,” he whispered. There was a humming sound and the sled moved backwards. At the same time, the port side sled moved forward, trying to offset the change in ballast.
When the starboard sled clicked to a stop, revealing a small space in front of it, AJ stuck her head through the opening and just as quickly pulled it back. Her eyebrows knitted, and then she took a longer look. Before he could ask what she saw, she reached up and turned on the room’s lights.
“What are you doing?” he whispered, stepping away from the opening. AJ tucked her gun inside the back of her pants and then motioned to him. “Come see for yourself.”
He cautiously stepped forward and peered inside. Lying sprawled in a pool of blood at the end of the shaft was the man from the bar.
Exile 03
“Our guest is waking up,” Raines’s voice said from the bridge speakers. Vee blinked her eyes and wondered if she had been sleeping. The clock on her dashboard said three-forty, which meant she was nearing the end of her midnight-to-four watch. Fortunately, no one else was on the bridge, so her secret was safe. Not that dozing at the helm was a court-martial offence, at least not outside the Guild. The ship was still on course and that was all that mattered.
She stood up and stretched then, remembering Raines’s message, relayed it to the captain and first mate in their quarters. The crew had been taking turns watching the stowaway ever since they hauled him up to med bay. The room’s automated surgical bed repaired the bullet wound in his back quite easily, but he had lost a fair amount of blood. As a result, he had been in a coma for several days while his body healed.
Ash came tromping up the stairwell with a cup of coffee in his hand. “Wake up, sunshine. It’s my turn at the wheel.”
“This ship doesn’t have a wheel, and you’re twenty minutes early,” she replied then wondered if his “wake up” comment meant that he knew she had fallen asleep on duty. No, she assured herself; he said that every time he relieved her.
“I heard that our guest is awake,” Ash said, “and I assumed you would want to be there when they questioned him.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “And why would you assume that?”
He slid past her and sat down at his navigation console. “Tell me I’m wrong,” he said with a grin.
She punched him in the shoulder. “Are you calling me nosy, Ashland?”
He faked pain an
d rubbed his shoulder. “You know I hate that name, and no, I’m just saying that you like to know what’s going on.”
“That’s better,” she said then started to walk away.
“With everyone,” he added with a grin, “and with everything.” She turned and punched him much harder. “Ow!” he yelled. “That one really hurt.”
“You’ll get over it,” she said with a fake, little girl smile and then turned and jogged down the stairs. She actually enjoyed the little games she and Ash had gotten in the habit of playing during the night shift changes, but he was right; she really did want to be there when the stranger woke up.
“Has he spoken at all?” Jake asked when he entered the med bay with AJ right behind. Raines sat in the room’s only chair, next to the surgical bed on the left side of the room. He seemed a little haggard, even for a man of his age.
“Have you been in here all night?” AJ asked.
Raines looked up at them both and sighed. “That’s two questions too many, especially before coffee.” As if on cue, Vee came in just then and handed her grandfather a cup. “Bless you, child,” he added as he took it in both hands and breathed in the aroma.
Jake was about to make a comment about her not bringing cups for the rest of them, when a voice made them all jump. “You killed her!” They all looked at the man in the bed, who was staring at them with his eyes wide open, as though he were witnessing some horrible act, something that only he could see.
Jake walked over to the bed. “Who killed who?” The man didn’t move, but the look on his face eased a bit, and then he closed his eyes. “Who killed who?” he repeated.
Raines studied the bed’s display. “I’m not sure he’s fully conscious yet, Captain.”
“I think I can speak for myself, Dr. Raines.”
Jake looked at the stowaway, and then at his engineer. “Doctor Raines?”
The older man ignored him and rolled his chair closer to the patient, whose eyes were now open and staring up at the ceiling. “You seem familiar,” Raines said. “Do I know you?”
“No,” the man said, “but I know you.” He pressed the bed’s elevation controls, lifting one end up to put him in a sitting position. “My father used to talk about you quite often when I was younger.”
“Who are you?” AJ asked. Jake noticed that she still had a gun tucked in the back of her pants, and her right hand was poised near it, ready to draw if necessary.
“Forgive me, Captain Stone. My name is Dr. Arik Wood.”
Raines stood and took a step backwards. “You’re Jarik’s son?”
Wood turned his head to Jake. “Before he has your first mate shoot me with that gun she’s hiding behind her back, I must explain why I’m here, Captain.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Raines fumed. “If he is who he says he is, then we can’t trust a word he says.” He shot a look at AJ, who pulled her gun out and aimed it at the man.
Jake looked at the man in the bed and then at Raines and AJ. “Would someone tell me who this is?”
Raines started to answer, but then Wood beat him to it. “I work for the Ministry of Science, or at least I used to, and as Dr. Raines just stated, my father is Counselor Jarik Wood.”
Jake glanced at AJ and frowned. “We have a Councilmember’s son aboard our ship? On top of that, we are aiming a loaded gun at him? Has everyone lost their minds?” AJ held her aim for a moment longer but then finally lowered her weapon.
“Thank you, Captain,” Wood said.
Jake stepped up to the man. “All right. I don’t have time for twenty questions. If you really are Counselor Wood’s son, I want to know three things; why does my crew want to shoot you, who actually did shoot you, and why did you stow away aboard my ship.”
“And how did you know the captain’s name back in the bar?” AJ added.
Jake sighed. “Okay, that’s four things, but answer the first three first.”
“I still feel pretty week, Captain,” he replied. “It would be easier if you asked me specific questions.”
“All right,” AJ said. “Here’s a question: Are you one the enforcers were looking for?”
“Yes, I believe I am,” he said.
“I’m confused,” Jake said. “They said they were looking for a rebel, and you tell me you work for the Council.”
“Worked for the Council,” Wood said. “Past-tense, and rebels come in many forms.”
“If you were with the Ministry of Science,” Raines said, “then I assume that you know something about the new Beta-tester everyone has been talking about?”
“Yes,” Wood replied. “While my father took all of the credit for it, as you can probably guess, I actually did most of the work on it.”
“What Beta-tester?” Jake asked. “Who’s been talking about it?”
Wood looked bored. “In layman’s terms, Captain, it’s a laser-based device about the same size and shape as your first mate’s handgun. Only instead of shooting bullets, it vaporizes a small patch of epidermis and then performs a spectral analysis of the particles.”
“I bet you are very proud of your accomplishment,” Raines said with a sneer.
Wood glanced up at the older man and then down at his own feet. “I have to admit that, in the beginning, I was very proud. Beta-testing used to takes several hours in a laboratory, and the results were often inconclusive.” He looked back up at Raines. “You seem to think I’m a monster, but I can assure you that I had the best intentions. For years, I’ve believed that there were dozens, if not hundreds of suspected Betas in the detention camps, who were, in fact, humans. I thought that by creating an instant, foolproof Beta-tester, these people could be quickly tested and released.”
“But you were wrong,” Raines said.
“I was quite wrong,” Wood agreed.
“I don’t understand,” Jake said.
The doctor’s eyes seem to glaze over as he looked at Jake. “You don’t know what Beta’s are? You can’t be serious.”
Jake shook his head. “Of course I know. Betas were artificial people. They caused the Fall of Man. We all learned that in preschool.”
“There is absolutely no proof of that,” Raines said.
Wood ignored Jake and continued his discussion with Raines. “The original laboratory tests were only accurate enough to tell if someone had greater than fifty percent Beta markers.”
Jake put up his hand. “Wait. Beta markers? What are those?”
Wood was about to speak, but Raines beat him to it. “When Betas were first created by our ancestors, they placed specific genetic markers in their DNA.”
“Why?” Jake asked.
“We don’t know for sure, but most believe it was a way to distinguish them from the Alpha population, the regular humans.”
“Beta humans are otherwise identical to Alpha humans,” Vee added. “Those markers are the only way to tell them apart.”
“Yes,” Wood said. “And unfortunately, at some point in our history, we lost that knowledge, and with it, the ability to distinguish Alphas from Betas.”
“Now, thanks to the Ministry of Science,” Raines said, “or as I now call it, the Ministry of Ethnic Purity, we have regained that knowledge. We now can identify those markers, and anyone with a greater than fifty percent reading is labeled a Beta.”
“Ah,” Wood said, “but my new test changed all of that. In addition to being nearly instantaneous, it is also accurate to within about ten percent.”
“Why didn’t that help release people from the camps?” Vee asked.
“Because the Council changed the threshold, didn’t they?” AJ asked.
Wood nodded. “Now anyone with greater than ten percent Beta markers in their DNA is considered a risk to the public and locked up.” He looked up at Jake. “Instead of helping to release people from the detention camps, I helped add more—by several orders of magnitude, in fact.”
“Why doesn’t someone stop them?” Vee asked. “We voted the Councilmembers into office; why
can’t we vote them out?”
“Because they’re not the problem,” AJ said.
“You’re on the side of the Council?” Jake asked, more than a little surprised.
AJ shrugged. “Like Vee said. We are the ones who voted them into office. The Council isn’t the problem. The real problem is the people of Civica who vote with their fears instead of their heads. They are so afraid of Betas, so afraid of the unknown; they are willing to give up their own freedom to feel safe.”
“So, that’s why you left?” Raines asked. “That’s why the enforcers were after you?”
“Yes,” Wood said. “I could no longer be a part of the atrocities being committed against our people. And so I ran.”
Jake took all of that in before asking another question. “I might believe all of this if you had stowed away on my boat by chance, but you didn’t. When you approached me in the bar, you addressed me by name.”
Wood shook his head. “I was in need of a ride, and someone gave me your name.”
“No,” AJ said, suddenly looking weary of the man again. “That was a Guild bar; no one would have given you anyone’s name in there.”
They all stared at the man, and then Jake said, “I think you have a little more explaining to do.”
Wood turned his head to the side and bit his lip. “Perhaps I do,” he finally said. He looked back at Jake. “My reasons for leaving are a bit more personal. When I finished the device, my father asked me to bring it to the Council for a live demonstration. When I ask who they wanted for the test, he said I should bring my wife.”
“Your wife?” Vee asked.
“Dana,” he replied. “I wasn’t concerned at first. Dana and I had always been loyal servants of the Council, and I assumed that they simply wanted me to provide a ‘negative’ to compare to a known Beta, maybe someone from one of the camps. Just before we were to leave, I ran the test on her myself.”
“Why?” Raines asked.
“She was my wife,” Wood said. “I didn’t want any surprises.”
“But you got one, didn’t you?” AJ added.
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